Biracial Couple’s Home Vandalized, Spray Painted With N-Word, Torched

Homeowners Shelly Owens (pictured), her fiance, Kevin Durham (pictured), and their children had their Council Bluffs, Iowa, home vandalized and then set ablaze in what police are referring to as a “hate crime,” according to KETV 7.

On Tuesday, Owens and Durham were both at work and the children at school, when authorities say someone broke in to their residence, tore up their home, and then spray painted it. Firefighters reportedly reached Owens and Durham’s home at about 2:30 p.m. Owens told KETV 7, “I’m very angry. They wrote the N-word all over my walls. This is against me, I guess, and it’s a hate crime.”

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According to the police, the family lives in an area that is considered diverse, so incidents like the one involving their home are not commonplace, “We very rarely have anything that I can remember for quite a while that I would say is related to a hate crime over here,” Sgt. Dave Dawson of the Council Bluffs Police Department told KETV 7. Dawson also insisted that his police investigators will be working hand-in-hand with the fire department to seek out the vandals responsible for the heinous and racially biased act.

According to Dawson, Owens and Durham’s property was the only residence in the neighborhood that was targeted thus far.

Meanwhile, police are asking anyone with information about the racially charged crime to call the Council Bluffs CrimeStoppers at 712-328-4728.